South Korea to Provide Sierra Leone with US$ 5 Million in Additional Financial Aid

The government also said it would support the West African nation in upgrading its disaster response systems with the assistance of training programs for medical and health care workers, and the provision of related protective gear or personal protective equipment (PPE). (image: European Commission/flickr)

SEJONG, Dec 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government will provide an additional US$5 million in assistance to tackle Ebola in Sierra Leone, Seoul’s foreign ministry announced on December 30.

The ministry said that $3 million will be spent on operation costs for an Ebola-dedicated clinic under construction in Goderich, near the capital Freetown. The other assistance money will be offered to Sierra Leone via the World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, the WHO is in charge of a main center responsible for dealing with eradicating the disease.

South Korea’s additional financial aid will take Seoul’s Ebola-related contribution to $12.6 million, the ministry stated. The government also said it would support the West African nation in upgrading its disaster response systems with the assistance of training programs for medical and health care workers, and the provision of related protective gear or personal protective equipment (PPE).

A team of Korean doctors and nurses has already been dispatched to the Ebola-stricken area, and more medical staff will travel to the region following South Korea’s commitment to global efforts to fight the highly contagious and lethal disease, which is estimated to have killed more than 7,700 people since December 2013.

A total of 145 doctors and nurses have submitted applications to be part of an emergency medical team to be dispatched to West Africa to treat Ebola patients. The government has decided it would send the team to Sierra Leone, where the spread of the epidemic is fastest and most virulent.

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